EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
The Unmaking of a President
Governing in prose is one thing. Preferring weasel words to governing at all is another
At 50, observed George Orwell, "everyone has the face he deserves". Unusually for that godliest of lefty seers, he was wrong. Rupert Murdoch passed that milestone three decades ago with no appendages emerging from his temples (although in Orwell's defence, he may have endured a pioneering double hornectomy).
With Barack Obama, on the other hand, Orwell was broadly correct. The President hits the half-century tomorrow with the handsome, placid features he deserves. It is the fizzog of a gentle, decent if intellectually arrogant man, untormented by the self-loathing that made Nixon look so cruelly vulpine, and free from the lupine seediness that hinted at Bill Clinton's appetites long before that woman Miss Lewinsky's blue dress went to the DNA analysis section at Sketchley's.
Signs of middle age are evident, it's true, from the rapidly greying hair and heavy creasing at the sides of the mouth. But his face remains enviably unravaged by the sleep deprivation and unimaginable stresses imposed by the rapid imperial decline set in motion by his predecessor's monstrous cabal.
Michelle certainly likes it. "She still thinks I'm cute," said Obama the other day. "And I guess that's all that matters, isn't it?" Well, no, you felt, it isn't. Other things matter too: things such as his fiscal capitulation to the terrorist far right that will rob tens of millions – the very people on whose primary behalf he ran for president – to ensure that the rich, mega-rich and hyper-rich continue to pay a smaller proportion in tax than the average American nurse. Looking at that face today, in fact, the only way it could conform more precisely to Orwell's dictum is if, in the next 12 hours, his liver succumbed to the jaundice that turned it bright yellow. For this was a heartbreaking act of skin-saving cowardice.
I hate to come over all crudely simplistic about an event of byzantine complexity, because the cards Obama held were, like so many of the hands dealt him since taking office, close to unplayable. As Sarah Churchwell brilliantly wrote on these pages yesterday, there is no negotiating with as delusional, anti-democratic and rank ignorant an entity as the Tea Party. These people are the modern version of Samson, literature's first suicide bomber, and would bring the temple down on themselves to kill the enemy, be that the concept of taxation itself or a black leader, or both.
Obama survived by placating them. He may even, though it is far too soon to tell, have narrowed the odds on his re-election. If he has simultaneously repositioned himself as a centrist and highlighted Republican extremism, as Bill Clinton did to propel himself to a 1996 landslide after Newt Gingrich shut down the federal government, it may yet be seen as a masterstroke.
Yet sometimes intricate political calculation feels somewhere between despicably small-minded and blindingly irrelevant. Sometimes, there is nothing for it but to be clumpingly simplistic, and crudely state that those of us who fell in love with the promise of Obama the candidate can no longer blind ourselves to the reality of Obama the President. Governing in prose is one thing. Preferring weasel words to governing at all is another.
This column comes in sorrow rather than anger. He is, as I said, a good man, and who believed that one of those could win the White House? But no more than noble intent and high intellect is goodness enough. As the age of American hegemony implodes, war is being waged in the US between progressive and reactionary forces. In allowing the latter such an unmitigated triumph, he first retreated, then first went missing in action, and finally resurfaced to claim victory. All politicians do that, you might say, and therein lies the peculiarly tragic nature of this presidency. What was Obama, after all, if not the alternative to all politicians?
He could have drawn a line in the sand. He, who claimed he'd rather be a transformational one-term president than a two-term duffer, could have said, "You didn't elect me to preside over a brutal diminution of the rights of the needy, and I won't have it" and risked himself in the fight to spread the pain between poor and wealthy. He might have lost and become unelectable – even been forced to stand aside in 2012 for Hillary Clinton.
And would that be such a terrible thing? Hillary is not, one suspects, a good woman. There is little, if anything, she would not baulk at in pursuit of power. But whatever her moral elasticity, Hillary is a street-fighter, and would never have surrendered to the Tea Party's pulverising nastiness and juggernaut stupidity. If the Republicans take the Senate next November and have control of both houses, who would you back to defend Obamacare?
Perhaps even at this late stage, liberal outrage at this repugnant deal offers her an opening for a primary challenge. If she stood and won on the, "I told you he wasn't up to it last time, but would you listen?" platform, the irony that would accompany Obama's cute face out of the Oval Office would be as depressing as any in memory.
The man elected as the peacenik, ultra-liberal enemy of entrenched poverty would be remembered as the ruthless Bin Laden assassin who presided over the most vicious assault on the poor in modern US history. Whatever the future holds for the one-time reincarnation of JFK, tomorrow no one other than Michelle will be tempted to sing "Happy Birthday Mr President" in the breathily adoring tones of Marilyn Monroe.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
126 Comments so far
Show AllTwo strikes against this:
1. Anyone who's been even remotely paying attention cannot say that Obama is either "gentle" or "decent" -- certainly not with a straight face. About the only positive thing we can say about his morals and ethics is that he seems to be a faithful husband. But even that may not reflect any inherent virtue in the man.
2. To write that "the cards Obama held were, like so many of the hands dealt him since taking office, close to unplayable" is to miss the point. Obama could've fought the Rethugs, lost, and parlayed each loss into a huge PR campaign against the Rethugs. He could've demonized them so badly in 2009 that nobody except the frankly racist would've ever voted Rethug again. But of course that was the last thing he wanted to do.
You beat me to it. My first thought on reading that was "who's this pillock, and where'd he leave his brain? If he was issued with one."
Ever hear the story about the man who confused trains with brains? It goes like this: President Obama, being a firm believer in Gawd, was ordered shortly after being declared a superior elite to stand in line for the issue of brains. He was listening to John Boner at the time and misunderstood . He thought the schedule was for the train instead of a brain. Unfortunately, he missed both.
corvo is being genrous in only calling TWO strikes against Norman's revisionist history article.
Obama is the first US President in 75 years to have as many golden opportunities to influence progressive change. With every issue Obama has addressed, he gave all his populist cards away as soon as they were dealt. Obama didn't even attempt to keep them in his hand.
Norman is all wet in declaring that Bill Clinton moved to the center in his second term.
During the first year of his first term, Clinton zealously promoted NAFTA without even suggesting that any safety or environrmental issues be addressed, thereby confirming that Clinton was center-right from the beginning and moving ever rightward for the following 7 years.
Not generous, just posting in haste -- and grateful that so many others here have commented on everything I missed!
What Matthew Norman has managed to cobble together here is silly and vapid drivel. This is pop politics content with dithering around with one of the shallowest Orwell quotes imaginable for starters-- and then wrapping up with with a JFK and Marilyn sighting.
The meat in between is pretty rancid, too.
"Obama survived by placating them."
What does that mean? Was that pinhead Eric Cantor about to lynch him on the White House lawn?
As even his intelligent liberal apologists such as Krugman and Robert Reich have pointed out, Obama had numerous opportunities to circumvent this scenario.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/opinion/the-president-surrenders-on-debt-ceiling.html
http://www.truth-out.org/ransom-paid/1312207122
"He is, as I said, a good man, and who believed that one of those could win the White House? But no more than noble intent and high intellect is goodness enough."
He is a good man based on what? His rhetoric? His calm demeanor? That Michelle still finds him cute?
This is the 'good' leader who has expanded the Bush-Cheney wars, claimed the right to assassinate U.S. citizens without due process, continued and even expanded the Bush-Cheney onslaught on civil liberties and whistle blowers, favors Wall Street bankers over homeowners, teachers, unions, etc.
A couple of minutes with a serious analyst such as Glenn Greenwald might embolden Norman to give up on this political pabulum before it incites another bout of verborrhea.
Obama has made it quite clear with his appointments of Rahm Emmanuel, Lawrence Summers, Tim Geithner, Jeffrey Immelt, etc. whom he considers his real constituents.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/obama-picks-jeffrey-immel-ge-jobs-overseas_n_812502.html
Jeffrey Immelt as a job's czar? This is like picking Jeffrey Dahmer to run the boy's choir.
Actual progressives on the Obama team such as Van Jones or Elizabeth Warren are thrown under the bus at the first convenient opportunity.
The students, poor, working class, etc. who were energized by his campaign of 'hope and change' were simply the suckers needed to install him in the White House.
Obama is calculating that the massive infusion of corporate and Wall Street cash --rewards for a job well done -- will be enough to overcome whatever clown emerges from the GOP scrum.
Obama is the guy who gushes over the genius of the Gipper, not JFK.
The Republicans realize that the best hope for the seizure of the White House and the Senate is for the general economy to remain as bad as possible.
However, it is myopic to continue to speak of a 'bad economy' as bad for EVERYONE. It is truly bad for workers, for unions, for the poor, for the Middle Class, for people on fixed incomes, for the public, etc.
It has NOT been bad of late for most major corporations (now awash in trillions of cash), for the large banks (now made whole and immensely profitable by taxpayer bailouts), for Wall Street, for the hedge fund managers, for weapon's industries, etc.
These are the authentic constituents of import for both the GOP and Obama.
This is why Obama can be so blase about home foreclosures and joblessness-- and now cuts to the poor, medicaid, social security, pensions, etc. -- and why the GOP is utterly gleeful over economic ruination among the peasantry.
Randy,
You need some correction. Krugman and Reich have NEVER apologized for or lauded Obama's policies in any way. They've been only a few of the voices of reason that were openly critical of his economic policies and weakness when dealing with the GOP.
Both are strong advocates of a public option and have been most open and specific in their continual criticism of Obama. Yes, they are both liberals but pointed out that Obama's policies have been disappointing and disastrous as well.
Krugman's articles in NYTimes and on TV have been outspoken as to Obama's inherent errors and approach to economic policy. Also his surrender to GOP. As for Reich he's stated the same most strongly on TV as well as writing for Common Dreams.Org and other blogs critical of Obama's behavior and policies.
Ray,
Norman's nasty remark about Hillary's quest for power and she's not a "nice person" Tells a lot about his hit piece.. A pox on this writer.
Obama with his outsize and undeserved egomania is not someone who quests for power? Trouble is obama has no idea how to weild power without being a turncoat.
Reply moved to bottom of thread.
Exactly Obummer is MORE evil than Dick Cheney because he is more successful in fooling people to support the same elite class Cheny did. Not having an asymmetrical scowl like Cheney did is ALL that matters to brain dead Americans. :(
It would be nice if Obummer were to have a Dorian Gray moment.
1-I agree with Corvo about depicting Obama as "decent and gentle".
2- Whoever this writer is surely doesn't understand politics. And a cheap broadside against Hillary and moralistic comments about Clinton and Monica have nothing whatever to with Obama's failures and inherent weakness or his obvious moral
lapses that rendered him paralized. Blaming the GOP for all of this won't hack it.
3- The writer hasn't a clue as to Obama's amoral capitulation to the extreme right and putting our country and its citizens into the abyss of poverty and suffering. This is not a "gentle" man. This is a vain main who thinks [ugh] that he's Ronald Reagan and has lied,misled,and double dealt.. This is the sort of unfaithfulness that hurts us all. Who cares about Michelle? Is this guy kidding?
4-We don't need apologists or those who continue to kiss The One's ring rather than demand he wake up and confront his enemies and do what so many other presidents have done, from FDR on down. You stand up and fight with lunatics and fight hard. You come out swinging and use the Pulpit you've got to tell it right. Obama has backtracked on everything he promised and is largely responsible or our credit demotion.
5- Had Obama raised the Debt Ceiling at the time of continuing the Bush tax cuts
he would have had the leverage to do this. But Mr.Big wanted to come up with a "Transformational Project" that he tied to the Debt crisis. A blunder of his cluelessness and ego colliding with prudence,vision,common sense and leadership which he totally lacks. His advisors are ridiculous. The GOP went licking their chops.
6-We are all sick and tired of being snookered by Obama. He's a sellout and a particularly unconfrontational personality when actually he promised "changing DC". Complaining about the GOP and making them the only culprits of disfunctional government won't wash. We all know how vicious the GOP would react and desperately attempt to spoil American Idol's chances in 2012. This isn't new.
7-So instead of playing strong poker and getting good advice [Goolsbee and Geithner??] we got a conservative who quavers and hasn't a clue emotionally or intellectually as to how to understand and react to the politics of DC.
8- Idol has been devious about HCR and his diary log unseen as to whom he consulted with in order turn BigPharma and Insurance cartels into private holders by mandate of Obamacare. Banks were showered with money with no caveats that protected mortgage defaults, Wall Street made out like bandits and given more money even after the Paulson debacle. We have made nothing from these bailouts, and Obama shafted Elizabeth Warren who knows something about Consumer Protection.
9- As a life long to the left centrist Democrat I would suggest that Obama be presented with a Primary challenge. His incompetence is spared of being impeached
by a derelict,cowardly and corrupt Democratic party with absent leadership and no morality.
10- No one knows what Obama stands for or what his political philosophy is. Generalties spewing from both sides of his mouth don't clarify his real positions, - if he has any at all. He is constitutionally unsuited for strong decisive leadership. The 14th amendment? Once he alowed the Tea maniacs to get us to the brink as the world watched, the only thing he came up with was "his lawyers didn't see it as an option" Incredible!! He's now on a Bus Tour talking about jobs? Really. As he collects money from his donors he will pretend to be one of "the folks" wearing a shirt as he promised jobs he just rendered impossible to deliver.
And as the world watched this bumbling excuse for The Leader Of The Free World losing control, the debate, he allowed America to be seen as a lunatic asylum. Our downgrade was expected and worse to come unless someone can shake him up and arouse him from his malaise and ego. It's apparent that political craftsmanship and tactics are zero.
Obummer=Hitlery!!!
Long form fail!!!!
Obummer=Hitlery!!!
Long form fail!!!!
"Whatever the future holds for the one-time reincarnation of JFK..."
You must be joking! Lloyd Bentsen said to Dan Quayle in 1988 "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy". Obama does not deserve to have his portrait hung in the same room as JFK's.
Amen!
Obama is so two-faced that his portrait will occupy twice as much space as JFK's.
[rim shot] ;)
More like a reincarnation of Herbert Hoover; the prez who turned a recession into the great depression.
He isn't even Herbert Hoover. Hoover at least sponsored some public works programs.
Good one. Maybe "silent Cal", do-nothing Calvin Cooledge; the perfect norquist prez. The seeds of the G.D. #1 were probably planted during his (non)watch. Although nothing quite captures the gross betrayal of the zero-man.
And at least Hoover didn't drain the US Treasury in his effort to extend the Great Depression.
Obama has drained the US Treasury in his effort to turn what could have been a three year recession into a decades long depression, or worse.
Corvo, you're right about Hoover. I lived through the depresssion, and while Hoover brought us to our knees as Obama has, Hoover certainly did sponsor [Hoover Dam] etc., and a few important public works projects, He was actually a philanthropist of note and used some of his wealth surprisingly. Obama is far worse than Hoover....and that's hard.
I suggest hanging it next to the portraits of Dan Quayle and George W. Bu$h.
"I would like to thank you all for coming today to witness my hanging." - George W. Bu$h upon the hanging of his portrait in the Texas Capitol.
WTF- Obama compares himself constantly to Ronald Reagan and the word "Clinton" never passes his lips. What a fraud. What obvious pandering.
I think this essay pretty much qualifies as crap. But that's just me.
You are being too kind.
I agree..
Nah. It's not just you. It's to be expected that there are at least 2 or 3 mindless fanboys still hanging on to their delusion.
wow there goes my lunch which cost me 12 bucks
this guy writes: "He is, as I said, a good man, and who believed that one of those could win the White House?"
hmmm...........
i guess the bush baby was "an intellectual who believed that one of those could win the White House?"
palin must then be the godlike picture of women's liberation
oops! lost my lunch again
i remember the good old days when the fawning corporate media used to describe gingrich and delay as towering intellects
as for obama's looks - as lizards go he looks okay but iguess this author never read the picture of dorian grey
"Realizing that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian (whimsically) expresses a desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait Basil has painted would age rather than himself. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, plunging him into debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of aging:"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray
how about the manchurian candidate
"It is revealed that the Communists have been using Shaw as a sleeper agent, a guiltless assassin subconsciously activated by seeing the “Queen of Diamonds” playing card while playing solitaire."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manchurian_Candidate
the author says michelle - the other lizard - is having a good time
why shouldn't she - she is on a permanent vacation - often taking an entourage of 70 or more - to the most expensive resorts in the world on the public dime. so far this year she has had 14 vacations while her lizard hubby has had to scrape by on 12
"“Material Girl” and ”modern day Marie Antoinette” are among the appellations given to First Lady Michelle Obama as she takes her latest vacation yet for the summer.
A stay at the luxury Hotel Villa Padierna, full-time Secret Service protection, an entourage of White House Staff, family and friends and travel aboard a chartered US Air Force plane are amongst the list of things sparking controversy as Michelle Obama reportedly takes a “glamorous” vacation. "
http://woman2womansite.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/michelle-obama-criticized-for-taking-%E2%80%9Cprivate%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%9Cglitzy%E2%80%9Dvacation/
michele makes the kardasians look like puritan quakers
the author quotes von obummer: "You didn't elect me to preside over a brutal diminution of the rights of the needy"
its a partial quote the full quote is as follows: ""You didn't elect me to preside over a brutal diminution of the rights of the needy, but i'm gonna do it anyway suckers"
as ralph nader pointed out yesterday: "In one of the most inept episodes of Presidential-Congressional relations, Mr. Obama managed to give the Republicans more than they expected and leave the Democrats with less than the Republicans offered."
mr obama in no jfk and this writer is no ernest hemingway
bye bye lunch
I too am glad I had big barf bag handy when I read this revisionist history article.
I hope the Independent didn't pay Norman too much for it.
The writer may not be an Ernest Hemingway, but you come pretty damn close to being a Mark Twain. Awesome comment. Thanks for the chuckles. I needed them after reading this article.
I second the motion. Medmedude transforms existential vomitis into some snappy prose.
This is a horrible article.
"The man elected as the peacenik" ???
-- The man, Obama, openly advocated to expand the war in Afghanistan during his campaign. How can you possibly write such a ridiculous thing?
Bruce Dixon explained it much better with his article, "Obama & the Fake Debt Ceiling Crisis: This President Is Really Just Smarter Than You Are"
http://www.blackagendareport.com/obama-fake-debt-ceiling-crisis_smarter-than-you
Quote from Dixon's article:
"The truth is that Barack Obama's actions are entirely rational, understandable and even predictable if you suppose him to have been a vicious, vacuous and cynical right wing operative from the very beginning."
And... "So if you're an Obama supporter, and you're disappointed that your president won't fight for you --- if you're an Obama supporter and you wonder why the president won't stand up for Medicaid, Medicare and social security --- here's the answer. The president really, really is smarter than you. He knows what side he's on and you don't."
----
Matthew Norman, do you know which side you are on? Openly calling Obama 'the man elected as the peacnik' shows us that you are a bit confused about who Obama really is. A good man? Well, the good men I know don't order the killing of people. The good men I know wouldn't appoint the same criminals who crashed the economy to run their economic team. The good men I know don't say one thing and then do another.
"This is a horrible article." ... Yes, I concur.
"A good man?" ... maybe a good "mannequin," positioned by window-dressers to attractively display something (torture, drone attacks, FISA spying, etc.) as the latest in fashion.
Well, many people did support Obama over Hillary in the primaries precisely because of his early opposition to the Iraq War, which of course Hillary enthusiastically supported from the start. This doesn't qualify him as a peacenik, but it surely identifies him as less of a raging warmonger than Hillary, or George Bush, the War President.
The problem is that our language has been utterly corrupted, which reflects how badly out of whack our entire political culture is. This is why Norman's article can call Obama a peacenik and a "good man". It's all relative to what has become the norm. Just look around, listen to the way people talk. War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery.
I agree that the English language is completely corrupted. One of my favorite essays by Orwell is "Politics and the English Language." This essay changed the way I read and listen to politics and everyday conversation. It has also helped me focus on cleaning up and simplifying my writing - which, I readily admit, is a work in progress. :-)
"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." - George Orwell
"Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal its crimes." -- George Carlin talking about the ridiculous euphemisms this culture uses.
-----
NedB, thanks for your comment too.
Seems we've forgetten what the Presidency is for' Now it's kinda like the Kidnergarten Graduation parties,and those folk in Geveva how think a gold prize should be given for showing up!
As a nation yes! we have just the government we deserve! yet'em vote; let dog's and cats vote! If they don't have the proven brains to understand the issues, hell let them vote twice! We demanded democracy, and this is where it got us!
Thank for playing! >^^<
Would somebody at the Common Dreams team encourage this writer to read Jeff Cohen's article on this? This is getting so tiresome when pwogs just don't get it as Alexander Cockburn would say. This president is the Tea Party's main man.
AD, one could say that Obama is a double agent.
He has taken a weak party and finished it off.
He should be impeached but this will not happen with this group of dork Dems.
He is a pretend Democrat and just look at his advisors and cabinet. All big corporate honchos. Elizabeth Warren and others fired.
He must be defeated in 2102. We have 2 Republican parties now in power in America and can thank Obama for this perfidy.
And we are headed for a major recession, or worse.
I'm not really sure what your comment has to do with the subject that DC-CPH and I were conversing about. If you have something to add about the degradation of the English language then it would seem appropriate to reply to me. But since that does not seem to be the case, maybe you should learn how to insert your rambling thought process in a more appropriate place (like at the bottom of the thread).
I totally agree with everyone. All these descriptions in this piece above are not what I see in Obama. I don't know what colored looking glass the writer is looking through. I don't see much moral character in Obama at all. I'm a 'peacenik' and Obama didn't fool me at all with all his lying smiling rhetoric before election so he did not get my vote. I'm not disappointed because I always saw him for what he revealed himself to be, and so did many others.
I think Hillary would have done the same things Obama, the Traiter in Chief has done. No one would get to play president if they haven't signed on to the Empire.
Look at the war mongering, inhuman way she has been as SOS.
This is a good article. The deceit that Obama brought to the WH was played brilliantly.
And there are those that STILL defend this guy and the dems. Amazing.
Happy Birthday, traiter, I am still unemployed while you justgave yourself a tax break and shat on the most vulnerable.
Obama never had what it would have taken to deal with the right-wing wackos in Congress. He should have marginalized the whole bunch of them in 2009. Bipartisanship with the Republicans is a waste of time - it never goes anywhere. Obama will be remembered positively for only one thing / he was the first (and possibly the last) Black president in this country's history. He definitely won't be remembered as a liberal ....
His accomplishment of being the first Black president should infuriate the African-American members of our society. He has worked steadfastly to throw all of his folks under the bus by endorsing such policies such as the drug war, which has been compared to the past Jim Crow Laws as a modern update.
I wonder how many of "his" people have been sentenced to draconian prison sentences not given whites and due to simple, nonviolent possession of illict drugs since he walked throuugh the doors of the White House?.
It's obvious as the wart on the Wicked Witch of the North's nose...Obama's loyalty is to money.
Obama won't recover from this betrayal.
You forget he doesn't have too.... Seen any of the ReThug hopefulls??? Hint their mothers wouldn't vote for them!! The Rethug side of the party's throwin the game see?!? NO Dem will stand and be counted, so it's full circle back to Bummer, then in 2016 maybe a hell-fire Christian preacher who's big on uniforms, the bible, and to everyones suprise little boys!
It just seems to be the way this nation overreacts! >^^<
Posters on this site are well ahead and way more accurate than these paid shills. Although it is fun watching them twist themselves into pretzels trying to justify Obama's action that parrallel that of the Bush Crime Family.
Typical garbage that qualifies for "commentary" on this website. Thank God for the comment section.
The author of this tripe writes --
"I hate to come over all crudely simplistic about an event of byzantine complexity"
Actually no, it's not at all complicated, it's a simple matter of class warfare. It's as simple as a guy picking up a stick and hitting some other guy over the head. These so-called "liberals" are the ones who make it complicated.
Pathetic article. Please do better CD!
The author assumes Hillary would not also do the bidding of the master class just as I'llbombya has. Still has not recognized reality.